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Within a Budding Grove
Within a Budding Grove | Marcel Proust, Dennis Joseph Enright
Based on the definitive edition and translation of the classic French novel, the second volume, which won the Prix Goncourt in 1919, follows the narrator's transition from childhood to adolescence and first love on the beaches of Normandy. Original. 12,500 first printing.
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Vansa
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#FirstLineFridays @shybookowl
It's Proust, so it's a very very long first line!

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Vansa
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Extraordinary. Proust can go on a bit. But some of his writing on how we perceive art, how the mind works are just extraordinary and you realise why he's considered such an influence. This set of pages is just.. incredible.

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Vansa
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SUCH a good sentence

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Vansa
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Ok then, M.Proust, interesting observation on " Israelites"- I can see how casual anti Semitism of this sort could ultimately lead to Dreyfus

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Taylor
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Pickpick

I finished this a while ago and forgot to leave a review…. Don‘t know how that happened.

Proust is so deep and dense that you have to really want it, in my opinion—I mean want to read it—in order to make it happen. I‘ve said it before but: casually reading the text doesn‘t give the reader what I think is intended. Many of the concepts require rereads and cerebration. It can be headachey at times (okay, a lot of times); headachingly original.

BarbaraBB So true! 10mo
8 likes1 comment
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Taylor

Really enjoying this, yet I‘m ready for something different. (This is often the case for me.)

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merelybookish
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Pickpick

Finished the second volume of In Search of Lost Time. It marks the end of his first love with Gilberte and the introduction to his new love Albertine. (And much, much more of course! Such a crude summary fails to capture Proustian expansiveness.) I'm still into, still entranced, although some of his descriptions of young women did make me 🙄🤢🙄🤢🙄🤢
Onward to Volume 3! #morningswithmarcel

BarbaraBB You‘re doing so well! I loved the third book! 11mo
merelybookish @BarbaraBB Thanks! And that's good to hear! 11mo
Centique You‘re a legend! I will get to volume 2 one day 🤷🏻‍♀️ 10mo
64 likes3 comments
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Taylor

the alcohol, with its heightened effect on the nerves, had filled the present minutes with a quality and a charm whose effect had not been to make me more able, or even more willing, to defend myself against them: my state of lightheadedness segregated them from the rest of my life and made me see them as vastly preferable to it; I was trapped in the present, as heroes are, or drunkards[.]

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merelybookish
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Reader, interrupted. 🐱

RebelReader Steven does the same thing to me. In the end we know it‘s all about them! 🤣😹 11mo
RaeLovesToRead Aww, another adorable #kittensagainstliterature 😘 11mo
mabell What a good helper! 11mo
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IndoorDame So cute though!!!! 11mo
jlhammar What a nice interruption. So sweet. 11mo
ravenlee Lady, you‘re done with that. 11mo
batsy Sweet, fluffy interruption! 11mo
merelybookish @RebelReader Always! 🐱 11mo
merelybookish @RaeLovesToRead @IndoorDame He absolutely coasts on his good looks. 😀 11mo
merelybookish @mabell Not really!! 😹 11mo
merelybookish @jlhammar I complain but I really love it. ❤️ 11mo
merelybookish @ravenlee Well said!! 😹 11mo
merelybookish @batsy The best!! 11mo
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Taylor

I had no difficulty in convincing myself that I should really be happy about all this, and my hope that such happiness would never leave me was as strong as my knowledge that I had never in fact felt it. The joys we most dread losing are those that have remained outside us, beyond the reach of our heart.

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bunneeboy
Within a Budding Grove | Marcel Proust, Dennis Joseph Enright
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Pickpick

Girls! On the beach!
Will Marcel ever meet them?…

BarbaraBB I loved this part of the series. 11mo
5 likes1 comment
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Taylor

Nearly a couple hundred pages into this, and loving it so far. I am having a major hankering to read fiction that‘s contemporary though. The last contemporary fiction I read was “Jerusalem,” which took forever, and somehow didn‘t feel that modern. I mean, parts of it did, but not altogether.

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DrSabrinaMoldenReads
Within a Budding Grove | Marcel Proust, Dennis Joseph Enright
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Pickpick

This second volume of “In Search of Lost Time” was amazing in too many ways for me to share briefly. In general, I have never experienced reading a book in which I had to sit and ponder about almost every page. The narrator ruminates about issues which we definitely know occur but seldom talk about out loud. He got too wordy towards the end but, for me, this book is excellent.

BarbaraBB Wonderful review 12mo
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Taylor

For, after all, my mind had to be a single thing; or perhaps there is only a single mind, in which everybody has a share, a mind to which all of us look, isolated though each of us is within a private body, just as at the theater, where, though every spectator sits in a separate place, there is only one stage.

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merelybookish
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On to volume 2...

Vansa I'm still on Volume 1! How did you find it? 13mo
sarahbarnes You‘re making great progress! Wow! 13mo
merelybookish @Vansa I loved it even tho I found some of the stuff about Swann's obsession kind of looonnng 13mo
merelybookish @sarahbarnes Thanks! I just read a bit each day. Some days a bit more than others but not trying to rush. 13mo
sarahbarnes I love it. 💛 13mo
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DrSabrinaMoldenReads
Within a Budding Grove | Marcel Proust, Dennis Joseph Enright
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This is Volume II of “In Search of Lost Time” and I can‘t even deal with the fact that this story will end. In the midst of the story line, on each page, Proust shares a profound thought that blows my mind. I wait in anticipation as I am reading. This is among one of the best reading experiences that I have had.

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TheKidUpstairs
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#OnThisDay in 1911 Éditions Gallimard was founded in Paris, as Éditions de la Nouvelle Revue Française. Its catalog includes 36 Prix Goncourt winners, 38 writers who have received the Nobel Prize, and 10 writers who have been awarded the Pulitzer. Albert Camus, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Salman Rushdie, and John Steinbeck have all published works through the company, which is run by the grandson of founder Gaston Gallimard. #HistoryGetsLIT

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Palimpsest
Within a Budding Grove | Marcel Proust, Dennis Joseph Enright
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Pickpick

I think I prefer the alternate title, In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower, not only because that appears to be the more literal translation (from my poor French) but the subjects both of observing Gilberte in the first half of the book and later the young women at Balbec feels more accurate. I love that the protagonist always seems to be longing, but if given his wish like going to the theater that his idea of it is more grandiose than 👇

Palimpsest reality. I felt this way when he first saw Balbec as well, he is sort of let down which I feel can often happen if we build something up so much in our minds. His being in love with love follows this path too. Some passages were so beautiful I could swoon and other times I was frustrated with his lack of differentiating the girls as if they were interchangeable. Beautiful novel. I‘m continuing with The Guermantes Way. 3y
Ruthiella One of these days I‘m going to tackle this series! 💪 3y
Leftcoastzen Embarrassed to say I have planned to start this series and have always chickened out . No disrespect to chickens .🐓 3y
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Palimpsest @Leftcoastzen 😆 It‘s length is a bit daunting, but it‘s a leisurely, enjoyable read. I would say that someone would have to enjoy lengthy descriptions of scenery and other situations in order to enjoy it. I read Swann‘s Way last year and just refreshed myself with a synopsis before I took up the second part. I‘m also reading other books at the same time which slows me down a bit, but I like to switch things up sometimes. 3y
Palimpsest @Ruthiella I recommend it! 3y
BarbaraBB I agree. He can‘t be not disappointed because he makes so much of a situation or place on forehand. I did enjoy him observing the girls. This instalment felt kind of light compared to some others and I liked that. 3y
Palimpsest @BarbaraBB I‘m really curious now about the further installments from your comment, as I did love Place Names. It made me want to visit Cabourg which I read Proust based Balbec after. I enjoyed the lightness of just dining, observing, driving about in the carriage, and looking at art. Can‘t wait to find out what‘s next! 3y
BarbaraBB I loved Place Names too! I‘ll look forward to your continuation of the series. They are unlike any other book I‘ve read. 3y
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Palimpsest
Within a Budding Grove | Marcel Proust, Dennis Joseph Enright
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I‘ve wanted to have blue hair since I was 18. Twenty-six years later and I‘ve finally did it, at least this once. Better late than never! Also, still plugging away at Proust. Some passages are so lovely I just want to be immersed in them. ☺️

Jessieleah You definitely rock it! 🤘🏻 3y
Palimpsest @Jessieleah aww, thanks so much! 🥰 3y
Megabooks Looks awesome!! I‘ve wanted turquoise hair since 16, and I‘m 41. I think it‘s time to go for it! 3y
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Palimpsest @Megabooks You definitely should! What I‘ve learned about aging is even though I‘ve grown as a person I essentially feel the same inside and instead of bowing to norms and because most people probably don‘t care anyway, I decided to do it and it makes me happy. Also, I just don‘t want to regret that I never did things I wanted to while I could. Post a picture if you dye your hair! 3y
Palimpsest Thank you! 😊 @Trashcanman 3y
erzascarletbookgasm Looking fabulous! 👍💙 3y
Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks 💙💙💙 3y
LeahBergen It looks great! 3y
batsy That is so cool! Good on you for going for it 💙 3y
TheSpineView Looks fantastic! 💙💙💙 3y
Palimpsest @erzascarletbookgasm Thank you! 😊 3y
Palimpsest @LeahBergen Thank you! 😊 3y
Palimpsest @batsy Thank you! 😊 3y
Palimpsest @TheSpineView Thank you! 😊 3y
Reggie This whole post rocks! 3y
Palimpsest @Reggie Thanks much! 😊 3y
vivastory This post is fantastic! 3y
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GatheringBooks
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Crazeedi What a gorgeous picture 3y
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Booksnchill
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Pickpick

I am 4 days over my schedule but finished this lovely V2 of Proust yesterday. Has anyone reading this been struck by the thought that Marcel, from his observations in the early 1900s, would be just as familiar with the society of today? This volume takes us from his first love Gilberte Swann to the seaside resort of Balbec with his grandmother and his second love(s) the “young girls” Albertine and Andree. I loved Balbec and the characters he meets

TheBookHippie I‘m almost finished ! My concentration has suffered ! I had similar thoughts. I love the writing it‘s soothing. 4y
Booksnchill @TheBookHippie i had a slump myself which is why it took so long but once I started back I agree, it was soothing. Starting V3 today🤞 4y
TheBookHippie @Booksnchill I‘m hoping to finish today start V3 tomorrow ! 4y
jewright I‘m behind. I‘m still not finished with the first book. I like them, but I‘m slow with the reading. 4y
arubabookwoman I'm about halfway through v.2--the Balbec part is just starting. Enjoying it very much. I find I do best reading between 15-25 pp per day, so not sure when I'll finish. This year I hope. 😀 4y
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Booksnchill
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#Proust2020 This is my happy place and my comfort in these heady days. In Nashville we had a devastating tornado on the 3rd then on the 12th we declared a public health crisis as our venues closed and panic spread even more quickly than the instances of possible exposure. We have been hit a blow but we are strong. I have chosen to immerse myself in the classics and Proust has been a distraction for me. Read for calm and clarity and be loved💖

TheBookHippie I figure I‘ll have plenty of time to catch up now but I am loving it! 4y
CBee I love that sweet furry face!! 4y
Booksnchill @TheBookHippie How great! I am also loving Proust for the lushness, the nature, the smallness and immensity of his characters and the reminder that humans have always been thus. 4y
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Booksnchill @CBee oh yes! Me too!🐾💖 4y
TheBookHippie @Booksnchill Exactly my thoughts 4y
BlameJennyJane That face!!! ❤️❤️❤️ 4y
FlowerFairy Oh those sweet eyes!!! 💜 4y
Booksnchill @BlameJennyJane yes he has me wrapped! 4y
Booksnchill @FlowerFairy That‘s his “you are pointing your phone at me again”exasperated look. 👀 4y
Centique I am glad you have Proust and your brave flouffy guardian there to immerse yourself in. 💕 Stay well - and you are right - we‘ll see this through together🧔🏻🧓🏻🧕🏻👩🏻‍🦰👦🏾🐶🐱 4y
batsy Stay safe ❤️ Reading Shakespeare right now is also providing clarity and calm and I did not expect that ... So glad we have books to turn to. 4y
Booksnchill @batsy you too! Maybe it has something to do with the timelessness of the art and the connection to the past ensuring us that we have endured much and we persevere? 4y
Booksnchill @Centique My guardian is wonderful comfort but completely ignores this whole social distancing thing!🤣🐾💖 (edited) 4y
Lesliereads Be well. 🌸🙏🏾 4y
Booksnchill @Lesliereads thank you, you and yours as well💪 4y
arubabookwoman I got behind and just finished Swann‘s Way. Absolutely loving Proust. Will be starting In a Budding Grove soon. As I recall most of it takes place in Balbec. Since reading it last, we had a chance to visit the Normandy coast, so I‘ll be interested to see if that influences my reading. 4y
Booksnchill @arubabookwoman how lovely- it will be great to hear your thoughts! 4y
KarouBlue 💖💖💖💖 4y
britt_brooke 💚💚💚 These are such weird times. Happy we all got together Saturday. That was a spirits booster. 4y
Booksnchill @britt_brooke that gathering of women always makes me so happy. Hard to believe it‘s been a couple of years already! Already hoping the next one is doable and the bookstores are reopenned🤞💖💖💖 4y
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Lcsmcat
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I wanted to check in with my #Proust2020 fellows. I‘m having trouble concentrating on his long (albeit wonderful) sentences. I‘m stressing a bit over how much isolation to enforce on employees in my department who don‘t get paid if they don‘t work and don‘t have many duties they can do from home. I‘m checking the CDC and other news too often (but can‘t stop myself!) and think I may need some escapist reading. So I may not post on this book much.

tpixie If you‘re allowed to write in it, you might underline the noun and the verb of each sentence and see if you can figure it out from there. That‘s how my husband read law books- with all their clauses and long sentences 4y
tpixie And good luck with the employee situation 4y
Tamra I agree with the escapist reading. It should be enjoyable when other things take a lot out of you. 4y
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Lcsmcat @tpixie Thanks. I don‘t usually have trouble concentrating on “difficult” books, but my bandwidth is used up. So I‘ll read something else for awhile and come back to it. 4y
Booksnchill I understand- my reaction to the stress has been to escape into the classics so this has worked for me but I am reading more slowly. At this time we must all care for ourselves and those under our leadership. Best wishes to you💖 4y
arubabookwoman I‘ve been behind and just finished Swann‘s Way. I intend to start this right away, even though I agree it requires concentration (maybe more than I have now). But the first time I read it years ago, I found that reading about 15 pp a day worked well, and that‘s what I‘m going to aim for. 4y
tpixie ♥️♥️♥️ 4y
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Lcsmcat
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“but the spread flowers made it seem a more private pastime even than that, a mysterious one, and seemed to hint that one should apologize for an indiscretion, as one might on inadvertently glimpsing the title of a book lying open and divulging the secret of what she had just read” #Proust2020

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Lcsmcat
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“But given that my resolve was unbreakable, given that within 24 hours, inside the empty frame of tomorrow, where everything fitted so perfectly because it was not today, my best intentions would easily take material shape, it was really preferable not to think of beginning things on an evening when I was not quite ready - and of course the following days were to be no better suited to beginning things.” Balthazar agrees. #proust2020

Tamra Any box will do. 😽 4y
Lcsmcat @Tamra Yep! Last night he tried to fit his entire cat-self in it. 4y
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Lcsmcat
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Better for book one maybe, but it‘s still a good snack for evening Proust. #Proust2020

TheBookHippie Beautiful! 4y
BarbaraBB Perfect! I can never eat a Madeline again without thinking of Proust! 4y
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Lcsmcat
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Challenge accepted, @megnews A first line only Proust could create. #firstlinefridays @ShyBookOwl

megnews I‘ve never read Proust. I have trouble remembering the beginning of an extremely long sentence by the end! 4y
Lcsmcat @megnews It ales a bit to get into the rhythm, but once you do his gorgeous prose just sucks you in. 4y
RaimeyGallant So long! 4y
magyklyXdelish Wowza that made my head spin 4y
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Lcsmcat
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“The state of total independence from his facial muscles in which M. de Norpois lived enabled him to listen while not seeming to hear.” #Proust2020

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Booksnchill
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#Proust2020 This is the version of Volume 2 that I will be reading. This is sometimes titled “In a Budding Grove”. We will be reading this gently, around 10-15 pages per day until the end of April if you care to follow along.

Lcsmcat I like your cover. Mine is the same translation but in hardback. 4y
Booksnchill @Lcsmcat i wondered what the difference was - yours is lovely- I guess they conformed the cover designs for the paperback set. 4y
Lcsmcat @Booksnchill I guess so. Is yours the UK or the US edition? One difference I wish they hadn‘t made is that in the US versions the French quotes (from Racine, etc) are translated in the text and in the original in the notes, whereas the UK version is the reverse. 4y
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KarouBlue Ooh. I got some time to catch up! I‘m about 100pgs into book 1 4y
Booksnchill @MellieAntoinette this is a no pressure read a long so read at your pace but yes, 2 months for each volume after Swann‘s Way should allow for various reading paces! Exciting! 4y
Booksnchill @Lcsmcat checking- I didn‘t know that about the different editions 4y
Lcsmcat @Booksnchill It was in the “Note on the Translation” by Lydia Davis at the beginning. I admit I read it because I thought Davis had translated all 7 volumes, so was expecting the Note to be a criticism of sorts explaining why she felt the need to add her efforts. (edited) 4y
Booksnchill @Lcsmcat i just read that- I have the US edition apparently- I keep the notes tagged and have been reading them contemporaneously (have you ever read Infinite Jest? I cursed notes after that epic read!- these are much more manageable!). 4y
Lcsmcat @Booksnchill They are manageable, and I do the same, it just interrupts the flow. 4y
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Lcsmcat
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New volume, new translator. I got my first 16 pages in before breakfast. #Proust2020

Booksnchill That‘s the translation I am reading as well! 4y
Lcsmcat @Booksnchill Most of my other volumes are older translations (a consequence of buying used books) but this one at least is from the Penguin series. 4y
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jveezer
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“...the voice not only offers the same singular and sensual surfaces as the facial features, it belongs to those unplumbable depths tempting is to the vertiginous peril of impossible kisses”
Last thirty pages and I feel like I am highlighting every other line. So good.

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jveezer
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How I feel about my iPhone...😳

BarbaraBB Oh Odette. I loved that devotion! 5y
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jveezer
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Reading this new translation after loving my first read in the old Moncrieff translation. Definitely some interesting differences. The main one is where the freak did Moncrieff or the publishers get the title “Within a Budding Grove?” How idiotic.

Booksnchill Agreed! 4y
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HannaPolkadots
Within a Budding Grove | Marcel Proust, Dennis Joseph Enright
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#readingresolutions day 3, #labordayreads. Our Labor Day was on May 1st, so today is just Monday 🤢 But as evening is sneaking in I find myself quite content with Proust on audio and knitting with leftover yarn. Happy Monday!🧡 @Jess7

Johanna414 Knitting with an audiobook is one of my favorite activities! Is that a blanket? I love all the colors 6y
HannaPolkadots It's a blanket, @Johanna414 😀 I'm trying to use all my leftover yarn so it's going to be really colorful, which I love. I also like this technique of knitting, since it means I won't have to sew the pieces together afterwards...😉 6y
Johanna414 @HannaPolkadots that‘s always a plus! I also avoid projects that involve a lot of pieces 6y
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Taylor
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Pickpick

This is hard work. I feel like I‘ve been reading Proust for so long and I‘m only through book two. Yikes.

BarbaraBB I know what you mean...I am fighting with book 4 and have been for months. 6y
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Taylor

Wisdom cannot be inherited—one must discover it for oneself, but only after following a course that no one can follow in our stead; no one can spare us that experience, for wisdom is only a point of view on things.

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Taylor

It is not only when we speak of ourselves that we think others are blind: we act as though they were. Each of us is watched over by a special god, who hides our faults, or promises us it shall be invisible

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Taylor

So it is that the average life expectancy, the relative longevity, of memories being much greater for those that commemorate poetic sensation than for those left by the pains of love

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Nat_Reads
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Pickpick

Proust is a pretty writer. You could frame images he creates. His characters tend to be snobbish, silly, and overly concerned with the way one wears a waistcoat to dinner (looking at you, Bloch!) The novel(s)

BarbaraBB Great review. It actually makes me want to read a bit more in Sodom and Gomorra! 6y
Nat_Reads @BarbaraBB Thank you! I actually miss that little world. I might pick up Sodom and Gomorra! 6y
BarbaraBB I realize now that it is the fourth book! The third is The Guermantes Way and I read that one too. You said you were a bit scared about it because you know little of French history. That is not necessary I think, it reads the same way as the others. Just read a bit about the Dreyfus affair before you start it. 😘 6y
Nat_Reads @BarbaraBB Thank you!! 6y
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Taylor

"Peace of mind is foreign to love, since each new fulfillment one attains is never anything but a new starting point for the desire to go beyond it."

☝️️

This second installment is rich with quotable material.

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Nat_Reads
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After reading and loving In Search of Lost Time, my husband bought me the next one! My first #chunkster of 2018 and am very much looking forward to it.

readordierachel Gorgeous cover 6y
Nat_Reads @ReadOrDieRachel I know! These new translations have beautiful editions. 6y
batsy Yes, it's so pretty! 6y
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Wellreadhead Sweet! 6y
DivineDiana I must read the first! What a thoughtful husband! 💗 6y
Nat_Reads @DivineDiana He's the best! But Proust is pretty good, too--I just glazed over the political stuff and marinated in the lush descriptions. He's not as difficult as I thought--but I'm probably missing a lot. It's gorgeous, though! Lydia Davis translated the first one and it is much more accessible than others I've tried in the past. 6y
SusanInTiburon Translation makes such a difference! 6y
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Taylor

The fact is that a sound idea transmits some of its force even to its contradictor. With its share of the universal value of all mind, it takes root among other adjacent ideas, growing like a graft even in the mind of someone whose own idea it rebuts 💡

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BarbaraBB
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Mehso-so

Reading Proust to me is really hard working at times, I find it difficult to keep following his thoughts and not be distracted. More than a few times I finished a page without remembering what I've read. And I have to admit that, between the streams of consciousness, I keep looking forward to some action (like a conversation). I am proud of myself for finishing the second Proust #1001books

Nat_Reads Proust is hard work! 6y
BarbaraBB @Nat_Reads it is. Did you read them all? 6y
Nat_Reads Not yet! I have read only the first two so far. I need a respite before I read the third one, which sounds like it might incredibly difficult because it's satire and I know nothing about French history... (edited) 6y
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Nat_Reads Have you? 6y
BarbaraBB @Nat_Reads I am in the middle of the third one, but it is going very slowly. It is rather boring... 😉 6y
Nat_Reads @Barbarabb As I feared 😵 I mean I don't mind boring if the prose is pretty...but... I think I'll take a break before diving in! 6y
BarbaraBB @Nat_Reads I read a couple of pages after every other book I finish. Just so I make a little progress. I am hoping for a moment that I will like it again! (edited) 6y
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Nat_Reads
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Reading something cozy on this blustery morning while the husband is still in bed. It brings to mind another modernist: "I can hear the mermaids singing each to each; I do not think they will sing to me..."

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